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Project Management Essentials: Scope

An Introductory Course

What project management does, how it flows across the life-cycle,

and the key steps to make your project successful.
William Stewart PhD, PMP, PPM
The Institute For Practical Project Management (IFPPM.org)
2025-01-02

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Contents

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This manual includes all the slides presented in the Udemy.com course
Project Management Essentials, providing the essential information you need
to understand what project management does, how it flows across the life-
cycle, and the key steps you need to take to make your project successful.

If after taking this course you want to dig deeper, please check out my
comprehensive course Deeply Practical Project Management, which explains
how to implement the project management processes in-depth, and includes a
250 page slide deck covering all the detailed information you need to manage
a project from end-to-end, and a set of professional PM documentation for a
$45M example project that you can reuse for your own projects.

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Author Bio

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William (Bill) Stewart is President of The Institute For Practical Project Management (IFPPM.org) and
a Project Management Institute certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and has delivered
more than 200 onsite project management courses to more than 2,000 people. He has worked for
aerospace companies, the Canadian Federal government, academia, and founded a software startup.
He has hands-on experience with project management, risk management, systems integration,
systems engineering, and software engineering.

Bill is currently a management consultant helping clients work better and get more done. Previously,
he founded and ran the cloud computing company Cirrus Computing for ten years. Before that, he
spent 14 years with Lockheed Martin Canada, where he served as the company System Engineering
Manager and Software Manager, Project Manager for system integration projects from $250K to
$55M, and in a range of senior roles on other projects up to $3B. His first real job was with the
Canadian Public Service, to establish and manage a computing centre supporting 4,500 personnel,
where he developed and deployed software to manage enterprise-wide course scheduling, resource
management, personnel management, and payroll, and developed and taught two programming
courses accredited by Seneca College.

Bill received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick for a thesis on
algorithms that build geodesic domes in multiple dimensions in optimum space and time. While at
UNB, he also taught eleven undergraduate courses and served as Principle Investigator on a secure
network modeling project. His professional training includes Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Project
Management, Risk Management, System Architecture, and System Engineering. He has taught
courses in Program Management, Project Management, Risk Management, Cost and Schedule
Control, and Negotiating.

Bill is author of the first web published book at LivingInternet.info, with contributions from many
creators of the Internet. He wrote the original “Fun Standard” at FunStandard.org, a collection of best
practices for having organizational fun. His paper on public financing of political parties was credited
in the Canadian House of Commons when the federal party financing bill passed in 2003. He lives in
Ottawa, Canada, with his wife and two children.
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Project Management Overview

The Foundation

““The
The loftier
loftier the
the building,
building, the
the deeper
deeper must
must the
the foundation
foundation be
be laid.
laid.””
–– Thomas
Thomas Kempis,
Kempis, 1380
1380 -- 1471.
1471.

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Overview – PM Basics

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What Is Project Management?

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Project Management provides a set of proven processes, templates, and tools,

refined from experience with trillions of dollars of effort, and collected by the
Project Management Institute (PMI), to help you:
➢ Plan. With a small amount of effort, develop an optimized plan, so you
know the scope, schedule, cost, and risks before you start, and the project
can begin with everyone on-board with accurate expectations.
➢ Manage. Once underway, smoothly determine the project status, forecast
performance, constructively communicate to management, and make
adjustments to manage the outcome as closely to the original plan as the
circumstances allow.
The PMI best practices are generic, and can help with anything you don’t know
how to do, in industry, government, or non-profit:
➢ E.g. business process, construction, consulting, contracts, facilities,
financial, human resources, legal, logistics, management, manufacturing,
operations, policy, retail, services, social services, support, technology, etc.
➢ Not just industry, it's the standard in governments around the world – note
the number of references to the PMI standard by the following government
websites: Brazil gov.br (6,200), Canada Treasury Board (85), China gov.cn
(246), EU europa.eu (392), Indonesia go.id (144) Nigeria gov.ng (31),
Turkey gov.tr (1,990), UK gov.uk (249), USA .gov (4910).
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Overview – PM Basics

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Who Can Use Project Management?

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Everyone in an organization can use project management:

➢ Whether or not directly involved with projects, everyone is effectively the
project manager of their own work, and can use many of the best practices
within their area to help them plan and manage their efforts.
➢ When the entire organization views all new efforts as projects, using the
same language and processes, then it increasingly operates like a well-

PMI is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc..

functioning team, with each person supporting from their position.

You don’t need a certification to manage projects, but it helps:

➢ Most people don’t necessarily need Project Management Institute
certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP®) or Certified
Associate in Project Management (CAPM), they just need the skills, which
this course provides.
➢ However, the PMP and CAPM are meaningful certifications, showing a
solid grounding in the best practices, so are sometimes required by
organizations to manage projects above a certain size, and are often a
required qualification for consulting engagements.
➢ This course provides a deep grounding in the PM process for anyone
wishing to obtain a PMP or CAPM certification, and will significantly help
with passing the exam.
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Overview – PM Basics

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Application To Small Projects

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How does the project management process apply to small projects?

➢
Don't skip any steps, just don't spend more time than required in planning.
➢
The up-front project planning is just to estimate the time and cost to within
+/- 10% of the likely reality, and get enough information you can track it
later, detailed planning can be done later during execution when the project
starts.
The trick is to make a first estimate of the size of the project during the initiation
stage, and then spend just 5% of that estimate during planning – e.g:
➢ May
For an estimated 40 hour project, spend about 2 hours planning. May be
be
➢ spread
spread
For an estimated 20 day project, spend about a day planning.
across
across time.
time.
➢
For an estimated 60 day project, spend about 3 days planning.
Produce all the key planning documents – if the project is small then it will be quick
and easy, and they will fit in just a few pages:
➢ Requirements, work breakdown structure, precedence diagram, estimates,
schedule, costs, and risk register.
Now you have a standard, organized, baselined plan:
➢ Even for a very small project, you have removed significant uncertainty,
and greatly improved the chances of an efficient, organized success.
➢ You have simple documentation that you can use to clearly explain the
project to your management and anyone else involved or interested.
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Overview – PM Basics

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Where Projects Come From

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Projects should be grounded in some unfulfilled Need, a problem or opportunity

that provides a good reason to carry them out, for example:
1. The time required for approval of facility repairs is too long.
2. Management cannot obtain timely decision information.
3. There is an opportunity to sell a product or service.
4. The organization has no presence in South America.
5. The community has no local soccer league.
What if there is a clear need, but not enough information to initiate a project – to
even baseline an objective or provide a first level business case estimate?
➢ Conduct a Feasibility Study (or Needs Assessment), expending a small
amount of effort to determine if a project should enter the initiation stage:
1. Are there potential ways to reduce the time for facility repair approvals?
2. Could required decision information be obtained from the existing data?
3. Does the organization have the capability and resources to provide the
product or service?
4. Could a South American presence be developed with a feasible effort?
5. Is there enough interest to establish a community soccer league?
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Overview – PMI Framework

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The Project Management Institute

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“The
“The world’s
world’s leading
leading not-for-profit
not-for-profit membership
membership association
association
for
for the
the project
project management
management profession.”
profession.”
–– PMI
PMI®
®

The title “Project Manager” was first formalized in the 1950’s.

PMI is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc..

The Project Management Institute (PMI) was established in 1969.
The first Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide
collecting the best practices was published in 1983.
There are now more than a million PMI members in more than 180 countries.
The PMI offers several different certifications, with well more than 1M holders:
➢ Project Management Professional (PMP ®) – best known.
And others:
And others:
➢ Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM ®). Portfolio
PortfolioManagement
●
Management ●

Professional
Professional(PfMP)®
(PfMP)®
➢ Program Management Professional (PgMP ). ® ●
● PMI Professional in
PMI Professional in
Business
BusinessAnalysis
Analysis
➢ PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP ). ®
(PMI-PBA)®
(PMI-PBA)®
● PMI Agile Certified
●
➢ PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP®). PMI Agile Certified
Practitioner
Practitioner(PMI-ACP)®
(PMI-ACP)®

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Overview – PMI Framework

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The Five PM Stages

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Two
Two key
key gates.
gates.

Initiation Planning Monitoring & Control Closing

• Need • Scope • Scope • Contract Closure
• Sponsor • Time • Time • Acceptance
• Customer • Cost • Cost • Delivery
• Objective • Risk • Risk • Lessons Learned
– Assumptions –––– • Quality • Team Closure
– Constraints • Resources –––––– • Final Report
• Conceptual • Procurement • Weekly Heartbeat
5%

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Solution • Quality • Monthly Heartbeat
• Business Case • Communications
• Stakeholders
• Project Manager Execution
• Plan Schedule
And Budget • Product, Service, Result

±100%
±100% ±10%
±10%
Accuracy
Accuracy Accuracy
Accuracy

The main value of the PM process is use of only 5% of the project effort to prepare
a plan that has +/-10% accuracy, so the sponsor can adjust scope, schedule, and
budget if needed, and everyone has accurate expectations before you start.
Then the planning documentation provides just the right amount of information to
enable easy monitoring and control once underway, and provide warning well in
advance if the project is off-track and the risk budget is being consumed too fast.
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Overview – Triple Constraint

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Triple Constraint

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The
The most
most important
important Your
Your Triangular
Triangular
concept
concept in in PM:
PM: Steering
Steering Wheel
Wheel
“Keep
“Keep itit balanced”
balanced”

1. Baseline Scope First. Figure out the bottom of the triangle, the scope, first:
➢ Only then is it possible to accurately plan the full time and cost .

2. The Constraints Are Interrelated. “Just like changing a side of a triangle, a change in any one of
these three constraints will cause a change in one or both of the others”:
➢ At the end of planning, when stakeholders ask you to reduce budget or schedule.
➢ During the project, whenever scope increases.

3. Rebalance Whenever Needed. Whenever one or more constraint is stressed, ask the
stakeholders for direction in a positive way, and rebalance as directed:
➢ “What is most important to you – the scope, schedule, or budget?”
➢ They usually pick two, then preserve those as best you can, and let the third go.
➢ The project will then be considered an effective success, since they made the decision as
early as possible, and performance was as good as possible in the circumstances.

(The risk budget provides some extra time and cost to help keep the constraints in balance.)
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Overview – Project Manager

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Role Of Project Manager

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“If
“If we
we want
want this
this project
project to
to be
be successful,
successful, then
then II need
need ...”
...”
–– Statement
Statement only
only the
the accountable
accountable project
project manager
manager cancan make
make with
with authority.
authority.
The project manager must be one person, with both the accountability and authority to
plan and manage the project and ensure all the best practices are implemented.
Not Project Coordinator or Project Director or Project Lead – only “Project Manager”
conveys accountability and authority internal and external to the organization.

When there is one project

manager with accountability
that will be asked what went
wrong if there are problems,
they will have the courage to
ask for resources and take the
actions necessary to work
towards the project success.

They must have direct access

to the sponsor / customer.

The sponsor should publicly

assign the project manager
accountability and authority in
the project charter (see next
chapter).

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Overview – Project Manager

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Exercise – Project Manager Development

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In what areas important to the project manager role could you most improve?

➢ Organization?

➢ Communications?

➢ Team building?

➢ Negotiation?

➢ Leadership?

Prioritize the top three areas. What courses and mentorship experiences will
help you meet these goals? How can you make those happen?

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Stage 1 – Initiation

The First Gate

““We
We succeed
succeed only
only as
as we
we identify
identify in
in life,
life, or
or in
in war,
war, or
or in
in anything
anything else,
else,
aa single
single overriding
overriding objective
objective,, and
and makemake allall other
other considerations
considerations
bend
bend to
to that
that one
one objective.
objective.””
–– President
President Dwight
Dwight D.
D. Eisenhower,
Eisenhower, SpeechSpeech To To Nation
Nation,, April
April 2,
2, 1957
1957

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Initiation – Introduction

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Purpose Of Initiation

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The initiation stage documents in the project charter the key information the project
manager requires to conduct efficient planning:
➢ The need that led to the project.
➢ The sponsor paying for it, and the customer that will use it.
➢ The stakeholders, all those affected by and can affect the project, along with their
required commitments and support.
➢ The ultimate project outcome and benefit in a single sentence objective, along
with any assumptions and constraints.
➢ The conceptual solution that will fulfill the objective.
➢ The initiation business case, typically estimated to about +/- 100% accuracy,
including the budget, schedule, and benefits.
➢ The project manager that will prepare a project plan with a much improved
accuracy of about +/- 10% for sponsor review before proceeding to execution.
➢ Mandate language that empowers the project manager and communicates to the
organization they should support the PM during planning.
➢ A budget for the planning stage, typically 5% of the initiation estimate, along with a
date for delivery of the plan to the sponsor.
Sign-off of the initiation charter only authorizes the start of planning, not execution: the
project should never be approved until the subsequent planning stage provides a +/- 10%
estimate for final sponsor decision making.
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Initiation – Scope

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Project Objective

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The objective documents two critically important things required by the

stakeholders in one clear sentence: the project ultimate outcome and key benefit.
➢
Popularized by Peter Drucker in book The Practice of Management (1954).
➢
A single sentence identifying what is needed, without any confusion with
how.
➢
Plus the all important benefit, why the outcome is important and worthwhile.
The SMART model can be a helpful guide:
➢
Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-Bound.
➢
Although the time is often put in the constraints section, along with any
budget targets, to keep the objective sentence simpler and more targeted.
Example objectives:
➢
Reduce the time for workflow approvals to less than 24 hours, to provide a
timely response to user requests and minimize impacts on productivity.
➢
Provide a plan, schedule, and budget for delivery of the ABC service to the
XYZ organization, to win business with a new customer with a 25% profit.
➢
Establish a soccer league with a governing organization, referees, playing
fields, equipment, and eight team rosters, to provide community children
ages 5 through 20 with a local sporting opportunity.
Overheard
Overheard duringduring planning:
planning: “That's
“That's aa great
great idea!
idea! However,
However,
it's
it's not
not in
in the
the objective,
objective, and
and we
we aren't
aren't going
going toto do
do that.”
that.”
Scope
Scope creep
creep stopped
stopped before
before project
project even
even started!
started!
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Initiation – Scope

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Exercise – Scope

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Scope

Baseline your project’s scope so the team will be able to conduct productive
planning:

➢ Get your stakeholders together and baseline a single sentence

objective for your project – documenting the ultimate outcome, and the
key benefit.

➢ What are the assumptions – project-level items to assume are true to

simplify planning?

➢ What are the constraints – project-level limitations such as schedule,

budget, policies, or standards?

➢ What is the conceptual solution – top-level definition of what the project

will produce to meet the objective?

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Stage 2 – Planning

The Second Gate

He was exaggerating
His point.
to make the point.

““Plans
Plans are
are worthless,
worthless, but
but planning
planning isis everything.
everything.””
–– President
President Dwight
Dwight D.
D. Eisenhower,
Eisenhower, Speech
Speech,, Nov.
Nov. 14
14 1957.
1957.

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Planning – Introduction

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Planning Process Flow

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Prepared
Preparedbybycustomer
customer
ififcommercial Response
Responseififcommercial
commercialRFP.
RFP.
commercialRFP.
RFP.

±100% Spend ±10%

Spendonly
only5%
5%ofofthe
theestimated
estimatedproject
projectbudget
budget––youyouare
arenot
notdoing
doingdetailed
detailedplanning,
planning,only
only
producing a project-level plan that is within ± 10% of the likely outcome.
producing a project-level plan that is within ± 10% of the likely outcome.
Each
Each step canbe
step can bereviewed
reviewedwith
withthe
thesponsor
sponsortotoget
getinterim
interimdirection
direction––e.g.
e.g.ififscope
scopeisistoo
toolarge.
large.
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Planning – Introduction

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Core Project Team

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“There
“There isis no
no wider
wider gulf
gulf in
in the
the universe
universe than
than yawns
yawns between
between
those
those onon the
the hither
hither and
and thither
thither side
side of
of vital
vital experience.”
experience.”
–– Rebecca
Rebecca West,
West, Black
Black Lamb
Lamb andand Grey
Grey Falcon,
Falcon, 1941.
1941.

The first thing the project manager needs for the planning stage is the core
project team (CPT):
➢ One subject matter area lead from each domain area – e.g. business,
technical, financial, facilities, procurement, training, support, etc.
➢ Each lead is responsible for planning their part of the project – defining
the deliverables, preparing cost and time estimates, identifying risks,
etc.
➢ Critically important for continuity that these leads be the same people
that will go on to implement the project, so they take the planning
seriously, and will feel responsibility to meet their own plan later during
execution.
➢ Can be very helpful for the CPT to start by reviewing any final reports
and lessons learned from similar past projects.

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Planning – Deliverables

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Work Breakdown Structure

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“A
“A deliverable-oriented
deliverable-oriented hierarchical
hierarchical decomposition
decomposition of of the
the work
work
to
to be
be executed
executed by
by the
the project
project team
team to
to accomplish
accomplish the
the project
project objectives.”
objectives.”
–– PMBOK
PMBOK® Guide.
®
Guide.

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a collection of all the deliverables – both
the end deliverables handed to the customer as well as all the interim work outputs
that need to be produced by the project as it goes along:

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc..

➢ Each deliverable has a single owner.
➢ When a deliverable is finished it is passed on to others, who then use it as
input to produce their own deliverables.
➢ They can be material, software, part of a facility, or a document, as long as it
is a tangible work output that is finished and passed on to others.
The work breakdown structure of deliverables is the official scope baseline,
because it includes all the work of the project:
➢ Deliverables passed on to the customer at the end of the project.
➢ Plus all the internal deliverables needed just to move the project along – the
plans, designs, reviews, approvals, contracts, inspections, tests, training,
support documentation, etc.
”If it’s in the work breakdown structure then it’s in the scope of the project; if it’s not
in the WBS then it’s not in the scope of the project”.
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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – An Aircraft

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One
One of
of the
the early
early WBS,
WBS, created
created to
to help
help
organize
organize aa very
very complex
complex effort.
effort.

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Shed

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Should
Should this
this be
be two
two
deliverables
deliverables or
or one?
one?

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Shed

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Just
Just the
the tangible
tangible outputs,
outputs,
not
not the
the activities
activities that
that
produce
produce them.
them.

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Supper

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Should
Should this
this be
be two
two
deliverables
deliverables or
or one?
one?

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Supper

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Just
Just the
the tangible
tangible outputs,
outputs,
not
not the
the activities
activities that
that
produce
produce them.
them.

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Standards Development

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Planning – Deliverables

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WBS Example – Process Improvement

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Project: Department Process Improvement Project (DPIP)

Objective: Develop more efficient department processes and improved floor
plan to increase productivity by 20%.
Used
Used later
later
in
in course.
course.

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Planning – Logic

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Precedence Diagram

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“Arriving
“Arriving at
at one
one goal
goal isis the
the starting
starting point
point to
to another.”
another.”
–– Fyodor
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Dostoevsky, Russian
Russian novelist,
novelist, 1821-1881.
1821-1881.

The precedence diagram is your most important project management tool:

➢
Flowcharts how the deliverables flow together.
➢
Shows the fundamental logic of the project.
➢
You can see the project, explain it to others, and manage it.
It shows the precedence relationships between deliverables:
➢
Which deliverables need to be done first?
➢
Which deliverables are needed to start others?
➢
Which deliverables can be started after others are finished?
Strive for parallelism – start deliverables as early as possible:
➢
There are often several parallel paths that can be streamed
independently.
➢
Assume infinite people and resources at this stage – realistic resource
constraints will be taken into account once the schedule starts to
stabilize.
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Planning – Schedule

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Gantt Chart

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The Gantt chart maps the precedence diagram onto the calendar, and is the formal baseline
for the project time.
For a project of any complexity, we need the help of a Gantt chart application, e.g. Microsoft
Project, Primavera, ProjectLibre (open source), to do all the date calculations:
➢ Start by entering the project start date.
➢ Enter the number of hours in the work day (by resource if it differs).
➢ Enter the deliverables, their durations from the estimates, and the links between
them from the precedence diagram.
➢ The tool skips weekends and any specified holidays and lays the deliverables
across the calendar.
➢ The tool calculates the critical path driving the schedule end date.
Creating the precedence diagram first, then entering the structure into the Gantt tool, makes
building the schedule easy, and provides several other advantages:
➢ The top-level schedule includes only deliverables, not activities.
➢ The number of precedence links is minimized to just what is needed.
➢ The Gantt chart is as simple as possible, easily maintainable, and actually useful
throughout the project!
➢ Avoid the built-in precedence diagram function in the Gantt software since it redraws
the diagram after every update, and instead maintain the precedence diagram in a
separate drawing tool – the need to make updates in two tools is more than
outweighed by the control you retain over the diagram layout.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 30/57
Planning – Schedule

Co
e
Gantt Chart Example

Tim

st
R
Scope

“Time
“Time isis the
the scarcest
scarcest resource,
resource, and
and unless
unless itit isis managed,
managed,
nothing
nothing else
else can
can be
be managed.”
managed.”
–– Peter
Peter Drucker,
Drucker, management
management consultant.
consultant.
Department Process Improvement Project

Critical
Critical Path
Path
shown
shown in in red
red

The Gantt chart is one-to-one with the precedence diagram:

➢ The deliverables are the bars.
➢ The precedence arrows are the links.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 31/57
Planning – Cost

Co
e
Estimating Cost

Tim

st
R
Scope

Cost estimates are obtained from the deliverable activity breakdowns, a sum of the
personnel costs and any material and services.
Direct Cost. Make sure the activity breakdowns include all the direct costs:
➢ All variable costs – dependent on the amount of effort:
➔
People * time * rates.
➔
Equipment rental * time.
➔
Printing * copies.
➔
Travel * trips.
➔
Paint * square feet.
➢ All fixed costs – one time expenditures per deliverable:
➔
Computers, equipment, furniture, etc.
Indirect Cost. Deliverable estimates should not include any overhead or “indirect”
costs, because they are already included in the rates for the direct costs:
➢ All the costs that would be too much trouble to calculate and track
individually, including items like office rent, electricity, and office supplies,
and support from departments like IT, QA, contracts, legal, shipping and
receiving, etc.
➢ Instead they are calculated once a year, organization wide, and included in
the cost of direct items – this is why “rates” are so much higher than salary.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 32/57
Planning – Cost

Co
e
Cost Breakdown

Tim

st
R
Scope

Cost is based on people rates (often ~2x salary) plus material and services.
Deliverable: Process Update Draft 1 Material & services cost: $2,680
Owner: A. Allen Resources cost: $36,800
Duration (days): 59.6 Total cost $39,480
Resource: Proc. Bus. System User
Lead Analyst Analyst Rep.
Hours a day: 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
Productivity: 85% 85% 85% 85%
Max
Availability: 100% 50% 33% 50% Totals Dur. Material & Services
Rate / hour: $100 $80 $80 $60 (Hours) (Days) Item Qty Cost Subtotal
Kick-off 4 4 4 4 16.0 1.8 Food 4 $20 $80
Requirements review 4 4 4 4 16.0 1.8 $0
Best practices review 4 2 2 8.0 0.9 $0
Readiness review 4 2 2 8.0 0.9 $0
Review existing processes 16 16 16 8 56.0 7.1 $0
Identify update processes 8 8 4 4 24.0 2.4 $0
Analyze efficiency updates 16 16 8 4 44.0 4.7 $0
Flowchart processes 4 8 16 28.0 7.1 Software 1 $400 $400
Document new processes 8 16 24 2 50.0 10.7 Colour printing 1 $850 $850
Peer review 4 8 8 20.0 3.6 Video rental 2 $250 $500
Update processes 4 8 8 1 21.0 3.6 $0
User review 4 4 4 4 16.0 1.8 $0
Update processes 8 12 16 36.0 7.1 $0
User approval 2 2 2 2 8.0 0.9 $0
Final document 4 8 12 1 25.0 5.3 Colour printing 1 $850 $850
Effort hours 94.0 118.0 130.0 34.0 376.0 59.6 Material & services cost: $2,680
Effort days 11.8 14.8 16.3 4.3 47.0 Could 1. Unavailability of matrixed team or user
Productive hours 110.6 138.8 152.9 40.0 442.4 incr. representative.
Productive days 13.8 17.4 19.1 5.0 55.3 effort: 2. Interfaces with external elements.

Duration hours 110.6 277.6 463.5 80.0 931.7 Could 1. Authorization of User Rep to call on
Duration days 13.8 34.7 57.9 10.0 116.5 decr. resources whenever required.
Costs $11,059 $11,106 $12,235 $2,400 $36,800 effort: 2. PM course for entire team :-)

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 33/57
Planning – Risk

Co
e
Risk Management

Tim

st
R
Scope

“Project
“Project Risk
Risk isis an
an uncertain
uncertain event
event or
or condition.”
condition.”
–– PMBOK
PMBOK® Guide
®
Guide

A realistic project plan considers problems that might occur, minimizes them before
starting, and reserves time and money to deal with them if they do happen.
Risks differ from issues because they are uncertain – they might not happen:

PMBOK is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc..

➢
Best practice says risks must have a probability of 80% or less.
➢
At 90% and above, there is not enough likelihood of heading them off and
they should be treated as issues – put the time and money to deal with them
directly in the plan – if they don’t happen you got lucky.
For small projects, perhaps under about $20K, you can allocate a risk budget simply
by setting aside time and money as a percentage of the rest of the project, most
commonly 15% – e.g. for a 40 day $20K project, add 6 days and $3K to the risk
budget.
For larger projects, it is very worthwhile to conduct the full risk planning process:
➢
You will be able to justify whatever amount of time and money you put in the
risk budget, commonly between 5% and 15%, but could be more or less.
➢
The process is actually useful, and can significantly reduce the risks before
you start - “planning is a project improvement exercise”.
Always remember: management wants to know the risks – never, ever minimize
them.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 34/57
Planning – Communications

Co
e
Project Management Plan

Tim

st
R
Scope

“A
“A goal
goal without
without aa plan
plan isis just
just aa wish.”
wish.”
–– Antoine
Antoine de
de Saint-Exupéry,
Saint-Exupéry, 1900-1944.
1900-1944.
The Project Management Plan documents the essentials – background, scope,
schedule, budget, risks, and issues – plus any other required information, for
stakeholder review, final adjustment, and approval before project execution begins.

Typical PMP Table Of Contents

1. Background 4. Budget
1.1 Need 4.1 Deliverable Costing
1.2 Sponsor 4.2 Cost Curve
1.3 Customer 5. Risks
1.4 Business Case 6. Issues
2. Scope 7. Stakeholders
2.1 Objective 8. Resources
2.2 Requirements 9. Communications
2.3 Solution 10. Quality
2.4 Work Breakdown Structure 11. Procurement
3. Schedule 12. Change Control Process
3.1 Precedence Diagram A. Appendices
3.2 Gantt Chart
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 35/57
 Co
e
Tim

st
R
Scope

Stage 3 – Execution

The Real Work Begins

““Take
Take time
time to
to deliberate,
deliberate, but
but when
when the
the time
time for
for action
action has
has arrived,
arrived,
stop
stop thinking
thinking and
and go
go in.
in.””
–– Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Bonaparte, 1769-1821.
1769-1821.

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 36/57
Execution – Introduction

Co
e
Purpose Of Execution

Tim

st
R
Scope

“The
“The coach
coach should
should keep
keep out
out of
of the
the way.
way. Matches
Matches are
are won
won by
by players.”
players.”
–– Romário
Romário de
de Souza
Souza Faria,
Faria, Brazilian
Brazilian football
football player.
player.

The purpose of the execution stage is to carry out the plan, design and build the
project output, and prepare for delivery and handover.
The team does most of the work in execution, so the project manager’s job is to:
➢ Build the full team starting with keeping the planning team, then adding the
best people possible for each role.
➢ Completely delegate responsibility for how the work is done.
➢ Motivate the team – find ways to describe why the work is worthwhile.
➢ Maximize trust, the largest contributor to team performance.
➢ Ensure the customer stays involved, including a formal user representative.
➢ Constantly ensure the priorities stay clear – especially quality and schedule.
The project manager should practice MBWA (Management By Walking Around):
➢ Obtain unfiltered information from personnel that don't report directly to you.
➢ Ask questions but never direct solutions – pass any issues of concern
through their regular manager to maintain their trust.
And then provide the resources needed and solve the problems the team cannot.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 37/57
Execution – Project Team

Co
e
Building The Project Team

Tim

st
R
Scope

“A
“A person
person does
does not
not need
need to
to be
be rounded,
rounded, but
but aa team
team does.”
does.”
–– Ancient
Ancient team
team building
building maxim.
maxim.

People will get the project done, so build the best team possible:
➢ Keep the planning leads to ensure continuity and accountability.
➢ Whether you or the leads are staffing the team, negotiate across the
organization and interview widely to get the best personnel.
➢ Look for four key attributes: skills, energy, team temperament, and ethics.
Look to build diverse teams, since it’s proven to produce better results:
➢ E.g. if all strategic thinkers, you’ll have great plans, but little work done, if all
analytic thinkers, you’ll get lots of work done, but in the wrong direction.
➢ Diversity of gender, ethnicity, age, background, experience, etc. will result in
better problem identification, more creative solutions, and more fun.
➢ Most importantly, never bring on people just because they are like you.
➢ The best way to obtain diversity is to interview as widely as you can, look for the
best match for the jobs, and diversity will follow naturally.
“I“I can't
can't tell
tell you
you that
that ifif you
you bring
bring in in weird
weird and
and different
different people,
people, then
then good
good things
things will
will
happen.
happen. But But II can
can tell
tell you
you that
that ifif you
you hire
hire similar
similar people,
people, and
and promote
promote only
only the
the ones
ones who
who
are
are most
most similar,
similar, bad
bad things
things are
are likely
likely to
to happen.”
happen.” –– Adam
Adam Grant,
Grant, NY
NY Times,
Times, 2016-02-07.
2016-02-07.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 38/57
Execution – Project Team

Co
e
Exercise – The Project Team

Tim

st
R
Scope

Build your project team:

➢ Keep the planning team, and add the best people for each role, negotiating with
functional managers and interviewing widely as required.

➢ Look for skills first, then energy, a team temperament, and ethics.

➢ Conduct lots of team-building as early as possible to help form a cohesive team

identity.

➢ Ensure a user representative is a core member of the team.

➢ Ensure everyone knows they are empowered to make decisions and take
actions in their areas of responsibility.

➢ Figure out your motivation strategy – how to sincerely make the case the
project is worthwhile, and the team should put in their very best effort.

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 39/57
 Co
e
Tim

st
R
Scope

Stage 4 – Monitoring & Control

Status, Manage, Report

““Have
Have no
no fear
fear of
of perfection:
perfection: you'll
you'll never
never reach
reach it.
it.””
–– Salvador
Salvador Dali,
Dali, painter,
painter, 1904-1989.
1904-1989.

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 40/57
Monitoring & Control – Introduction

Co
e
Purpose Of Monitoring And Control

Tim

st
R
Scope

The purpose of monitoring and control is to keep track of how the project is doing,
and take action to keep performance as close as possible to the original plan:
➢ Status the issues and risks with the project leads in a one hour max meeting
at the start of each week.
➢ Ensure scope changes are never made without a full impact analysis and a
considered decision, and try to trade out existing scope to balance off any
new work – solve the number two cause of project failure, scope creep.
➢ Ensure all designs are reviewed by the users to provide critically important
feedback and find anything missed before creating the full deliverables –
solve the number three cause of project failure – insufficient user reviews.
➢ Ensure the risks are tracked and response plans proactively implemented,
and use the risk budget as needed to protect the plan.
➢ Formally status the scope, schedule, budget, and risks once a month and
review with the stakeholders.
➢ Take action wherever you can to redirect the performance back to the plan.
➢ Ask the stakeholders for assistance wherever they can be useful.
➢ If the performance cannot be brought back inline with the plan, ask the
stakeholders which of scope, schedule, or budget is most important to them,
and then do whatever is needed to rebalance the triple constraint.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 41/57
Monitoring & Control – Scope

Co
e
Change Control

Tim

st
R
Scope

“Because
“Because things
things are
are the
the way
way they
they are,
are, things
things will
will not
not stay
stay the
the way
way they
they are.”
are.”
–– Bertolt
Bertolt Brecht,
Brecht, 1898-1956.
1898-1956.

Ensure you manage “scope creep”, making the project result better and better and
better, the second most common cause of project failure:
➢ The best solution is the same as the solution to the number one cause of project
failure – get all the scope up front during planning.
Then make sure the project has a rigorous change control process:
➢ Any change, no matter how minor, must be written down on a change control
form and submitted through the project manager.
Convene a Change Control Board (CCB) meeting to evaluate the change:
➢ Wide membership, any possibly affected party, all core and support functions.
➢ The primary purpose of the first meeting is just to identify all the areas of
potential impacts – design, build, documentation, certifications, etc.
Then whoever is closest to the change follows up after the meeting to complete an
impact analysis and determine the full time and cost required:
➢ Simply iterate the planning process – prepare requirements, a WBS, precedence
diagram, deliverable estimates, Gantt chart, and risk analysis.
➢ Particularly make sure any additional costs due purely to increased schedule are
included in the impact – any management, rentals, etc. needed for longer.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 42/57
Monitoring & Control – Time

Co
e
Managing Schedule

Tim

st
R
Scope

The best way to manage schedule is to make sure there is enough to start with
during planning, and then, during monitoring and control, focus on the essentials:
➢
Ensure everyone knows exactly what they need to do, has the resources
required, and the skills needed or training and mentorship to acquire them.
➢
Ensure everyone is empowered to make the decisions they need to make,
and is fully motivated – understanding why the project is worthwhile and their
work is important.
➢
Ensure everyone understands that, after quality, schedule is the most
important priority, since delays drive both cost and the emergence of brand
new risks.
➢
Manage the critical path first – the rest of the deliverables are second priority.
The more critical the schedule, the more you need to make sure you have timely
visibility by increasing the number of monitoring checkpoints:
➢
For shorter projects and towards the end of schedule critical projects, hold the
usual monthly formal statusing bi-weekly or even weekly if needed.
To produce the greatest schedule performance, hold a maximum 15 minute standup
meeting with the leads every morning, go around the room, and cover four
essentials:
➢
What did you do yesterday?
➢
What are you going to do today?
➢
Is there anything preventing you from doing it?
➢
Let me know immediately if anything blocks you from progress.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 43/57
Monitoring & Control – Cost

Co
e
Managing Cost

Tim

st
R
Scope

Once a project is planned, you cannot manage cost directly by reducing salaries or
contract payments, and cutting quality to try and reduce cost can quickly make the
entire project a waste of time.
Therefore, you can only effectively manage cost indirectly, through what drives it:
➢ Scope. Find it all during planning, and get the owners to provide an activity
breakdown so the budget will be accurate, and then manage change control
rigorously so you will never be surprised by the additions.
➢ Schedule. Every extra day the schedule extends adds to the costs, so manage
the critical path like a hawk.
Risks. Manage them proactively, and mitigate them as early as possible when
➢

effective action will be least expensive.

Then make sure you always know the status by ensuring all costs are tracked and
reviewed at least once a month:
➢ So all material and service costs must be allocated on purchase orders and in
contracts to the appropriate cost account.
➢ All personnel hours must be tracked through timesheets:
➔
An administrative burden, but the only way to ensure the project costs don’t
silently balloon, and personnel don’t get unrealistically allocated to much
more work than they can do – it actually protects them too.
➔
A project management fundamental – personnel estimates only become
useful, and more realistic over time, if they are tracked during the project.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 44/57
Monitoring & Control – Risk

Co
e
Managing Risk

Tim

st
R
Scope

Review the risk register with the leads at the end of each weekly status meeting.
Watch for the triggers, the early warning signs the risk is coming true:
➢ Investigate, communicate, collect data, understand the drivers of the risk.
➢ Use risk budget funds proactively to reduce the probability and/or impact.
➢ Make sure you have a backup plan in case the risk happens anyway.
The money in the risk budget is controlled, so to draw on it you have to fill out a form and
either specify the risk the money is for, or that it’s needed to manage a new risk:
➢ Do not hesitate to draw on the risk budget if needed, that is what it is for.
➢ Spending funds from the risk budget is a PM decision – you are accountable for
performance – so fill out the form and simply explain at the monthly review.
Formally update the risk register for the monthly review:
➢ Decrease or increase %, T, and $ as appropriate. “Mr.
“Mr. VPVP Finance,
Finance, II
cannot
cannot givegive up up much
much
➢ Add any new risks, quantifications, and response plans. of
of the
the risk
risk budget
budget
➢ Remove risks that are gone – cautiously, never too early. now,
now, as as most
most of of the
the
surprises
surprises will will likely
likely
➢ Don’t use the risk budget for scope creep!
happen
happen at at the
the end
end ofof
Extrapolate risk budget usage based on the current trend: the
the project.”
project.”
➢ If the risk budget is being consumed too fast, ask the stakeholders for assistance
wherever they can help, and if needed obtain direction on what is most important –
scope, schedule, or cost – then rebalance the project.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 45/57
Monitoring & Control – Monthly Heartbeat

Co
e
Monthly Status

Tim

st
R
Scope

”Eventually
”Eventually aa young
young manager
manager displayed
displayed the
the first
first red
red chart.
chart. II stood
stood up
up and
and clapped.
clapped.
That’s when everyone understood the key became identifying
That’s when everyone understood the key became identifying the problems,the problems,
and
and helping
helping each
each other
other find
find solutions.”
solutions.”
–– Alan
Alan Mulally,
Mulally, Ford
Ford CEO,
CEO, How
How to
to turn
turn around
around aa business
business losing
losing $17B.
$17B.

You need to regularly gather formal status on the project progress to help you monitor and
control, and to review with the stakeholders so they are kept up to date:
➢ Typically monthly, since that is when financial info is updated, however high risk
and schedule critical projects can require formal updates bi-weekly or even weekly.
Collect the latest status on the big five – scope, schedule, cost, risks, and issues – and
document them in a one page report (see template on the next slide):
➢ One page is a manageable amount of work, and should be sufficient for
stakeholder review of even $B projects if you are providing status every month.
➢ One page ensures the items of most importance to you don’t get lost – risks,
issues, and request for help with problems you cannot resolve, such as support
from internal departments and external organizations, addition of resources, etc.
If your organization uses color coding – a short-hand method to help understand quickly
how the project is doing – the standard is the same as used for earned value:
➢ Green. Within 5% of plan, the project is doing well.
➢ Yellow. From 5%–10% off plan, action is required to get back on track.
➢ Red. More than 10% off plan, major action is required to address the issues.
➢ Colors can be assigned to scope, schedule, and cost individually.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 46/57
Monitoring & Control – Summary

Co
e
Exercise – Monthly Review

Tim

st
R
Scope

Establish and implement a monthly status review:

➢ Set up the monthly review board, typically including the sponsor, customer, and
senior representatives of any key stakeholders, especially those whose support
is required by the project.

➢ Establish a standard one-page report format, such as the template just

described.

➢ At the start of each month, gather status on the scope, schedule, cost, risks,
issues, and customer, and review the project progress with the review board.

➢ Make sure you treat the review as a two-way communication, and ask the
stakeholders for help with anything you need assistance with.

➢ If the risk budget is being consumed too fast, tell the truth, then ask the
stakeholders what is most important to them – scope, schedule, or cost – and
then rebalance the constraints as needed to obtain the best possible outcome in
the circumstances.

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 47/57
 Co
e
Tim

st
R
Scope

Stage 5 – Closing

Finalize Everything

““Begin
Begin at
at the
the beginning,
beginning, and
and gogo on
on till
till you
you come
come to
to the
the end,
end, then
then stop.”
stop.”
–– Lewis
Lewis Carroll,
Carroll, Alice
Alice in
in Wonderland
Wonderland,, 1865.
1865.

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 48/57
Closing – Introduction

Co
e
Purpose Of Closing

Tim

st
R
Scope

The purpose of closing is to wrap up the project in an organized manner and make
sure nothing gets forgotten:
➢ Ensure all procurements are complete, everything has been delivered, and
all contracts are formally closed.
➢ Ensure change management has been well planned, and the customer truly
believes the project result will be useful to them and will accept it.
➢ Verify all the scope has been completed, the project output is “fit for
purpose”, and everything required has been delivered.
➢ Ensure the group responsible for maintaining the project output – support,
operations, sustainment – has all the information and training they need.
➢ Ensure project lessons learned are gathered, documented, and made
available to others in the organization.
➢ Provide performance feedback to team members, and help them transition
back to their functional organizations or to other projects.
➢ Hold some kind of celebration to acknowledge the effort of the team and
provide a human closure point for the project.
➢ Prepare a final report for the stakeholders documenting whatever happened
compared to the original plan, describing major risks and lessons learned,
and providing recommendations for what should happen next.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 49/57
Closing – Final Report

Co
e
Final Report

Tim

st
R
Scope

The last step in wrapping up the project is to write a final report for the stakeholders.
A typical final report table of contents:
1. Introduction (Usual background information, especially the project
need and objective.)
2. Results (Whatever happened compared to the original plan.)
2.1 Scope
2.2 Schedule
2.3 Cost
3. Business Case Status (Whatever is known at the end of the project
about the extent to which it was realized.)
4. Major Risks (Most significant items and how they were handled.)
5. Major Lessons Learned (Most valuable.)
6. Recommendations For Next Steps (Such as suggested future work, often
including items from change control and user reviews not done during the
project and best implemented in future projects or phases.)
For larger projects, also hold a meeting with the stakeholders to review the report.
And then flow any actions implied by the report to the appropriate parts of the
organization, e.g. suggested updates to any policies or procedures.
© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 50/57
Closing – Final Report

Co
e
Exercise – Final Report

Tim

st
R
Scope

Wrap up your project:

➢ Write a final report documenting what happened to the project scope,

schedule, and budget compared to the plan, the status of the business
case to the extent known, major risks, major lessons learned, and
recommendations for next steps.

➢ Send the report to the stakeholders, and for larger projects hold a
review meeting to walk through and discuss.

➢ Flow any suggested actions to the appropriate parts of the

organization.

➢ Take some rest and relaxation time, and move on to your next
challenge!

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 51/57
 Co
e
Tim

st
R
Scope

Summary Checklist

© Wm. Stewart Get free resources and your DPPM certification at IFPPM.org Slide 52/57
 Co
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Summary Checklist

Tim

st
R
Scope

Overview:
●
The main value of project management is that it helps you easily plan the effort before
you start, and then smoothly status and manage it once underway.
●
Project management can help any kind of effort in any domain, small or large, in
industry, government, or non-profit.
●
The five project management stages are Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring &
Control, and Closing, and can repeat across multiple project phases.
●
The most important concept in project management is the triple constraint, that scope,
time, and cost are fundamentally inter-related, and whenever one changes the other two
must be rebalanced – the project manager's main job.
●
The project manager must have the title “Project Manager”, with their accountability and
authority to ensure project success publicly assigned by the sponsor in the charter, and
have direct access to the customer whenever required.
Initiation:
●
The purpose of initiation is to baseline the key information the project manager needs to
conduct effective planning, especially the project objective, and determine how much
effort to spend in planning.
●
The most important step in scope definition is to get the stakeholders to agree a single
sentence objective identifying the ultimate project outcome and benefit.

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Summary Checklist (Cont’d)

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Planning:
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Planning is the most important project stage, where we put together an execution
strategy that can get the job done and be easily monitored and controlled, and determine
the scope, schedule, budget, and risks with an accuracy of +/-10% so we know what we
are getting into before we start.
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The work breakdown structure identifies all the deliverables, both passed to the
customer at the end of the project as well as all the interim outputs produced during the
project just to get it done, and make everything else in planning easy.
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The precedence diagram flowcharts how the deliverables come together, showing the
fundamental logic of the project, and is the most important practical tool for planning,
communicating, and managing the project.
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The precedence diagram and deliverable estimates are loaded into a Gantt chart tool,
given a start date, and the tool maps the work across the calendar, and determines the
critical path of back-to-back deliverables driving the schedule end date.
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Costs are easily rolled up from the deliverable activity breakdowns, including all direct
fixed and variable costs.
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Risk planning adds time and money into the project to take account of uncertain events
(80% or less probability) that could negatively impact the project.
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Prepare a project management plan documenting the scope, time, cost, and risk
baselines, and sections or separate plans as required for stakeholders, resources,
communications, quality, procurement, change control, and the requirements.
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Summary Checklist (Cont’d)

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Execution:
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The purpose of execution is to assemble the best possible team, design and build the project
output, and prepare for delivery and handover.
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Keep the planning leads to ensure continuity and accountability, select the rest of the team
based on skills, energy, team temperament, and ethics, choose from the widest set of
candidates to maximize diversity and therefore creativity and performance, and include a user
representative in as much of the project work as possible.

Monitoring & Control:

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The purpose of monitoring and control is to track the status of scope, schedule, cost, and
risks, and take action to keep performance as close to the plan as possible.
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Solve scope creep, the second most common cause of project failure, by instituting a rigorous
change control process, and try hard to implement any new scope in the next project or phase,
or trade out other scope equivalent in impact to balance it off.
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Maximize schedule performance by ensuring the team has the skills and resources required,
are fully empowered and motivated, understand schedule delays drive both cost and new
risks, and then manage the critical path like a hawk.
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For critical schedules, hold a stand-up 15 minute meeting each morning, ask each lead what
they did yesterday, what they will do today, if there is anything preventing them from
accomplishing it, and to let you know immediately if anything blocks them from progress.
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Obtain cost reports at least once a month, ordered by cost account that collect all material,
services, and personnel time, delegate management to the person best able to manage the
cost, and review the reports yourself to maintain oversight.
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Summary Checklist (Cont’d)

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Cost cannot be arbitrarily reduced once planned, and can only be effectively managed by
controlling the drivers – scope, schedule, and risks.
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Delegate ownership of risks to the lowest level possible, watch for the triggers, spend money
to manage risks early when they are least expensive, add new risks to the register whenever
they arise, and reduce and remove risks very cautiously.
●
Formally status the project scope, schedule, cost, risks, and issues monthly to obtain solid
information to help you monitor and control, and to review progress with the sponsor and
stakeholders so they are kept fully informed and never surprised.
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Use a one page report format to keep the reporting manageable, and to ensure the
information you need to discuss does not get lost.
Closing:
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The purpose of closing is to deliver and handover the project result, close contracts, capture
lessons learned, transition the team, hold a project celebration, and write a final report .
●
Write a final report documenting whatever happened with scope, schedule, and cost, the
business case status to the extent known, major risks, most valuable lessons learned, and
recommendations for next steps, then review the report with the stakeholders, and flow
required actions to the organization.

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More Coverage

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I hope you enjoyed the course!

If after taking this course you want to dig deeper, please check out
my comprehensive course Deeply Practical Project Management,
which explains how to implement the project management
processes in-depth.

It also includes a 250 page slide deck covering all the detailed
information you need to manage a project from end-to-end, and
a set of professional PM documentation for a $44M example
project that you can reuse for your own projects.

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